A Little Too Late
by DARWIN51
Summary: Aaron is in love with his neighbor Nell Jones. Neric, mentions of abuse, Nell-centric,


Nell-centric, 1st person pov by my oc Aaron, but it's not about him, it's about Nell. Also Neric. Please review and I hope you enjoy!

My name is Aaron. I'm in love with my downstairs neighbor, but she doesn't see me as anything more than a friend to go to in a time of need.

This is my story.

I'm a college student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California-Los Angeles. I'm going for my doctorate degree, but I'm only 24 so I still have a few years to go.

Anyways, about this girl, her name is Nell Jones, and she moved in on the second floor of this apartment complex 2 years ago. For the first few months, I hardly ever saw her at all. The only times I saw her was when I would go to get my mail "coincidentally" at the same time as she did, right after work. We were friendly, and she would say "Hi Aaron!" every time we passed. I told her where I went to college and that I was a med student, and I asked her where she worked, but she always avoided the subject.  
Just under a year ago, I noticed that a man would come to her apartment late at night, and then eventually he came almost every day. He had light brown hair and looked as if he lifted weights a lot. One time I was on my way out the door, and I saw her kissing him goodbye, and she called him "Corey". I gave up for a while after that, it was obvious they were in a serious relationship. She stopped saying hi to me and instead just kept her head ducked and never said a word to anyone. She often came home very late, once I was leaving at 1 am and she was just on her way in. I hadn't seen her face in so long, so I "accidentally" bumped into her, since she had her head down she hadn't seen me. She jumped in surprise and picked her head up to look at me for just a few seconds and mumble "sorry". It was just a few seconds, but it was long enough for me to see her swollen cheek and jaw, and the red around her eyes. She noticed that I was staring and quickly put her head back down and hurried up the stairs. "Sorry!" I had called back to her.

At this point, anyone in their right mind would know something was up, and I did know, but I wasn't going to do anything about it. Even if I _could _do something, I'm not that heroic guy who would save the girl, I've never been one to take action, so I just sat there, hoping.

One night, I can pinpoint the date actually; it was March 2nd that Nell came to my door at 11 at night. Just before that, I heard a car door slam and a loud engine drive away quickly. I heard 3 soft knocks on my door, and I opened it to find Nell in tears, bent over holding her leg tightly. "Please, please help me, it's just bleeding so much. I don't know what to do, please, I don't know how to make it stop." She said so fast It sounded like a confusing jumble of words. I had no idea what to do, I was so afraid I would say something wrong. "Uhh… come in." I said lamely, and I helped her over to the couch. She was holding a small dishrag to her right calf, and I told her to take her hand away so I could see. It was only then that it occurred to me that she had probably only come to me because I was a med student and I would know what to do, not because she saw me as a trusted friend.  
She pulled her hand away, and as soon as she did, more blood began pouring out of a cut that was a good 5 inches long, at least. "Can you help me?" She asked. I put her hand back on her leg and went to retrieve a larger towel and a first aid kit. When I returned, the bleeding had almost stopped. I wiped the rest of the blood away, and I asked "Why didn't you go to the hospital?" She took her hand away again so I could put the larger towel under her leg, where it would keep her blood off the carpet, but leave the cut exposed so I could decide what to do with it.  
"Um…you know, bills and stuff. But-but I'll pay you! If you can help."  
I shook my head, still staring at her leg "You don't need to pay me. I understand."  
"What do you mean, you "understand"?" she asked.  
I decided to just flat-out say it. " I know that your boyfriend is hurting you."  
Her breath hitched in her throat. It was quiet for a few seconds as I continued to pull supplies out of my first aid kit. "Wh-" she started, but I cut her off. "I won't tell anyone, but I don't like being lied to, so don't make up some excuse." It came out harsher than I intended.  
"How do you know?" she said in almost a whisper. "Well, for one thing, your tears are washing away your make up and I can clearly see bruises on your face."  
"What are you going to do?" she asked in fear. Of course I wanted to do everything to make it better, but I knew I would never actually do anything.  
"Do you want me to do something?" I asked.  
"no."  
"Okay."  
She looked at me. I said "It's your business, not mine. But if you ever need help, I'm always here." I knew those were the right words as soon as they came out. She smiled at me and said "Thank you. Thank you so much."

I smiled back, then remembered the task at hand. "Uh, what did you get cut with?" I asked.  
"What?" she said.  
"What did you get cut with?"  
"Why?"  
"Because I need to know which antiseptic to use."  
"Oh. It was um…a pair of scissors." She said, avoiding eye contact. I felt a strong wave of anger come over me. "O-kay" my voice cracked. I picked up a bottle of antiseptic and held her leg steady with my left hand, and went to pour some antiseptic with my right hand.  
"This might hurt" I winced, knowing for a fact it was going to hurt her. I poured it over the cut and was surprised not to hear anything from Nell. I looked back at her, she had her eyes squeezed shut and clutched part of her skirt into a ball.

I capped the antiseptic and began to wrap her leg. When I was finished, I dragged the coffee table over and propped her leg up on a pillow on the coffee table. I told her she should stay like that for a while, but really I was just making an excuse to keep her here longer. I sat next to her on the couch and she soon fell asleep with her head on my shoulder.

She cried in her sleep. Not out loud, just tears falling down her face. I fell asleep right there, too. When I awoke in the morning, she was gone.

That was only my first encounter like that. I can't count the number of times she's come to my door at night, needing me to dress a wound, tell if a bone was broken or not, stop the bleeding, make sure head injuries weren't serious, and, on multiple occasions, relocate her shoulder. Each time I offered my help and each time I dried her tears I would tell her that this didn't have to continue.  
She must've been very good at putting on makeup, not just on her face either, because whenever I saw her outside my apartment (only to get mail) there were no traces of any cigarette burns I may have treated the night before.  
She kept trying to pay me, saying she felt bad waking me up in the middle of the night, although I was never really asleep. Most nights I was awake, worrying about her. I kept telling her it was fine, I was always glad to help a friend in need.

I guess she didn't get that though, because many times right after I heard yelling coming from her apartment, and she didn't come up to see me, I would go down and check on her. Sometimes I found her perfectly fine, sometimes she got away with a few bruises. But sometimes I found her unconscious on the floor, or in her bathroom trying to take care of an injury herself, which she wasn't qualified to do. Each time I would comfort her, wishing she was with me.

This lasted over a year until one night, I just-so-happened to be looking out my window when a car pulled up, and Nell got out with four other guys and a girl. Corey was not one of them. I knew something was going down, so I pressed my ear to the floor so I could listen.  
I heard Nell enter her apartment and greet Corey, who usually sat on her couch most of the day. They were talking, but I couldn't hear much until "we're breaking up"  
I gasped. She was finally going to do it! I kept listening.  
"_What._"  
"I said, I'm breaking up with you. Get out of my apartment." I don't even think Corey responded, I just heard a slam and a small cry, which I knew to be Nell being thrown against something. Without a moment's hesitation, her door slammed open and I heard other male voices "Let's take this outside, huh pal?" and I heard Corey say "OW! Let me GO!"

I ran to the window to see three men: a big black guy, another guy with short hair, and one with shaggy surfer hair. They took turns punching Corey in the face or kicking him in the gut. I opened my window to see better. The short haired guy held Corey by the collar, and I heard him say "You stay away from her, understand?" "I'm callin the cops!" Corey said. The big black guy said "You heard G. All we want, is for none of us, or Nell, to ever see your face again. If you can't do that, if we EVER see you, I can guarantee we will rearrange your stupid face so no one will ever recognize you. Capiche?"  
Corey nodded and the guy called "G" threw him to the ground. Corey ran to his car, which I could see under the street lamp had been keyed terribly. He sped away so quickly, he went over the curb and through part of a bush.

I wanted to start cheering, this was perfect, she was safe and could finally be with me! The 3 men went back inside, and I pressed my ear to the floor once again. I heard them enter and ask if she was okay, she was saying "yes" repeatedly, but I still heard the other girl say "keep the ice on it." Nell just kept thanking the guys. "Thank you so much. So much. Thank you, really." "Nell, it's fine. Really. The safety of the team is always top priority. We're just glad you're okay." One of the guys said.

Nell started laughing with relief, laughing while she thanked them, her laughter turning into something that sounded more like crying. "Hey hey, don't cry." Said a voice I hadn't heard yet. It must've been the shaggy haired man or the other one who didn't beat up Corey. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm happy. Really, I'm happy, it's over" She continued laugh-sobbing "It's over. Thank you."  
One of the men whose voice I recognized said "Nell-how long has this been going on for?" Nell said "We've been dating for over a year, but he's been…violent… only for the past 10 months."  
"Only?" One of the guys huffed. There was silence for a few seconds, then a male voice said something I couldn't quite make out. More silence, and the other female voice said something to Nell. A male voice said loudly "How about those drinks?" There was a jumble of talking and I heard them walk out the door.

The next few days I went to check on her, but she wasn't home ever. A few days later she was knocking on my door again, this time on a Saturday afternoon. She just wanted to thank me for all my help, and she told me what happened, even though I already knew. I asked where she had been the past few days, she said she was staying at a friend's house, just to be safe. She told me how she couldn't thank me enough and told me she was sorry, even though I told her not to be. Of course, being me, I blew that opportunity to ask her out, which I guess would have been inappropriate considering what she had just been through.

But sure enough, a few weeks later I saw her walking into the building holding hands with a blond man with kind of spiky hair. I think he might've been one of the guys who helped her that night.

We talked in passing, but not much other than that. About a year later, I got a letter in the mail, and I found that I was too late to have her as my own.

_You are cordially invited to join us in celebrating the wedding of_

_ Nell Renee Jones_

_ And_

_ Eric James Beale_

_ On Tuesday afternoon _

_ June 2__nd_

_ At the Millennium Hotel in Los Angeles_

_ Followed by a reception_

_ R.S.V.P April 29__th_


End file.
